"Cowardice asks the question...is it safe? Expediency asks the question...is it politic? Vanity asks the question...is it popular? But conscience asks the question...is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but one must take it because it is right." ~Dr. Martin Luther King

Monday 2 April 2012

You Otta Know

creating a diversion



"Mission Green" must have been dubbed as such because the morons involved with its inception were green with envy.  Envious of a sustainable waste diversion program that has still failed to materialize here in York Region.

I have commented on this issue before in a series of posts:

And like a compost heap, the failure keeps accumulating and the horrible stench of it all grows stronger.

The Era Banner recently ran an article regarding the financial issues the program is having, you can read it here: http://www.yorkregion.com/news/article/1326279--york-seeks-partners-for-green-bin-program

If there is anything that "the bin is in" it is trouble.

York Region initially budgeted $31 million for the plant, yet unveiled in this year’s budget, costs rose over 200% to $84.4 million

No one cares about "per-tonne costs" dropping when the plant is expected to only take 50,000 tonnes, or about half of the organic waste the region now generates.

So what happens to the other 50% of the waste the region collects?

The waste is shipped to London, Ontario’s Orgaworld and Massachusetts-based WeCare.

Odor problems at Orgaworld and Universal Resource Recovery, in Welland, led to shutdowns, followed by the region having to send green bin waste for incineration or to landfill. 

Diversion rates don't need to get back on track they need to be conceived of and managed in a sustainable way.

Something those responsible for the program have clearly demonstrated they are incapable of delivering.

The "new-normal" as it is referred means that the region is paying $1.2 billion dollars for a flawed and unsustainable program.

Newmarket’s Halton Recycling plant was shut down to 10 per cent of its capacity by court order in 2006, due to odour issues.

For six months in 2008, the region’s green bin waste was trucked to an American incinerator.

Over $700K was planned to educate people about this program that is fraught with problems, and nowhere does it recognize its inefficiencies.

These issues cost the region its status as the best waste diverter in the province.  It's not likely to get that back any time soon.
Is it really a surprise that finding someone to help the region pay for the plant has been a "challenge"?

The biggest challenge has clearly been an absence of effective leadership from the beginning.

The region needs to stop diverting finds to current group of morons who run the program and "bin" them.

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